Unity in Diversity (Part 3 of 4)

Which part of your body is the least important? Is there any part you would be willing to just easily give up?

Probably not. Today on Truth for Life Weekend, Alistair Begg uses a similar illustration to explain why diversity is just as vital in the body of Christ, the Church. We're in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 14 through 31. Last time we said that in dealing with these verses from 12 and on, the apostle had provided us with one of the best-known illustrations from the New Testament in terms of the nature and purpose of the body of Christ. And we said, noting it, that it takes many different parts to make up one body. We then noted that these parts inevitably differ from each other.

Thirdly, that the fact of their difference doesn't diminish in any way the body's basic unity. We then went from the illustration to the explanation, and the explanation is right there in verse 12. So it is with Christ. And we spent the remainder of our time last Sunday evening thinking about the fact that in order to accomplish his work on earth, Jesus had a body made of flesh and blood, and now in order to accomplish his work today, Jesus has a body that consists of living human beings.

And we said that we would go from the explanation, which is provided, to the application, and it is therefore to that we now turn. The biblical concept which is contained in these verses, although it is very understandable, is frankly very alien to many of us, and certainly to many churches. The reason being that one of the things that is uniquely American is individualism.

There is one thing that has been bred and bred well, and very helpfully and successfully in so many cases, is the importance of being able to stand on one's own and to take the tasks that one has set and get on with life—the kind of spirit of the Wild West that we saw in those early Western movies. However, individualism, taken to an extreme just with other things, can begin to prove dreadfully unhelpful—harmful indeed. And the individualism, which is then matched with consumerism, when it is baptized into orthodoxy, especially in church life, makes it very, very difficult for people to receive the instruction here in 1 Corinthians 12. Many people have no concept whatsoever of what it means to belong to a family. The chaos that is obvious in the nuclear family is also prevalent in church families. And one needs only to look around and to listen and to learn to understand that people change congregations and move away from pastors as readily as they change their banks or switch their grocery stores.

And many times for the similar kinds of reasons. Oh, they move the beans. I don't like it when they move the beans.

I am not coming back here. I always like the beans in aisle three. And it becomes a very significant thing. Oh, such and such a Sunday school program changed. I don't like that.

It should always have been—on aisle four it's been moved, we're out of here. After all, we are individuals. After all, we have a right to choose.

After all, that is part and parcel of our lives as American citizens. And by jingle, we're going to exercise our rights as best as we possibly can. Now, when that kind of confused thinking produces itself in confused acting, then all manner of chaos will be discovered within the body of Christ, within local congregations. Therefore, it is imperative for every church, and not least of all for our own church family tonight, to—if we're going to be effective as a church family, we need to make a fresh discovery of and a fresh commitment to the instruction which these verses contain. Now, we get to the very heart of it if you look at verse 27. Now, you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Illustration, the body. Explanation, so it is with Christ. Application, you are the body of Christ, and each one of you a part of it.

Now, how has this come about? Well, it has come about as a result of God calling us to himself. Let's cross-reference this for a moment in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9, a verse that is well known to some. 1 Peter 2, 9, you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Peter is writing here about the radical change which God has brought about in the lives of those who are his own. Not only has he redeemed us, but he has placed us within his family. We come to Christ individually, but we do not live in Christ solitarily. And one of the great dangers of pressing upon people the individualistic nature of saving faith, which is a necessary and a true and a biblical emphasis, is that they then mistakenly apply that same individualism to every other part of their Christian experience. We are brought to Christ as individuals. We do not live in Christ as individuals. We are placed into his body.

This has come about because he has called us to himself. It's not my purpose this evening to develop this, but let me note, at least in passing, that this is the great silliness of church membership without an awareness of Jesus as Lord and Savior. It's like having a tracksuit with the USA team on it or a tracksuit bearing your favorite athletic team on it. You may be proud to wear the suit, but you're not actually a member of the team.

You just have the suit. Now, if ever you were enlisted to the team, if we were signed on and we signed a contract and we became a part of it, then that which we wore bore testimony to what we had become. But without it, we were merely wearing the externals. And so it is that for people to sign their names to lists of congregations and to identify in an external way with the church is actually, to a great degree, an irrelevancy, unless they have come to an experience of having received mercy, of having become part of God's chosen people, of having been made to drink of the same Spirit and having been baptized into that same body. So it has come about then, first, because God has called us to him. And secondly, and we're now back in 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 18, it has come about because God has arranged the parts as he wants them. In fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. So God has called us to him. God has arranged us in the body. And thirdly, it is God who has combined the members. Verse 24, God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it. So just as in our human bodies, the reason that we have stuff where it is is because of God's creative power and handiwork.

We are not stuck together as a means of a committee. We did not appear in this way as a result of some evolutionary process. But we are as we are because God determined that we should be this way.

He, in his manifold wisdom, decided that this is how it would be. And the marvel of the human body is apparent for all of us to consider when we're thoughtful concerning these things. So too, says Paul, his body, his church, is put together in the exact same way. The part which the members of the body play is not as a result of human initiative, but it is a result of divine invention. The place that God has for you is not something that comes about simply as a result of a bright idea on the part of a group, nor necessarily as a result of your desire to do something—at least not if we want to function effectively. The God who sets the parts in the body is a God who loves to put his children at the very center of his richest and choicest blessing.

That's what he wants to do. He wants the body, and he wants individual churches to function at maximum effectiveness. He knows that that cannot be unless the members are prepared to submit to the score and bow beneath the conductor. He knows that it cannot be if individuals decide that they will order their own destiny, that they will do their own thing, that they will develop their own strategies. To have that within the framework of a body is to baptize chaos into orthodoxy. Therefore, the part which God gives us to play matters.

And there is no part which he offers which is irrelevant or insignificant. It is impossible in the purposes of God to be given a place in his body that is dispensable or irrelevant or insignificant. Of all places, in all the world, as men and women search for significance, it ought to be made obvious to us when we gather in the family of God. Now, in light of this, we might summarize the implications of this instruction or the application of it by saying that therefore we are called to say no to isolation and to say yes to involvement. To say no to isolation and to say yes to involvement. There is an obvious kind of isolation which is external. That is, where people just remove themselves from the framework and activities of God's people within the context of a local church. There is an isolation which is obviously less apparent, and that is an isolation of heart and mind. A disengagement which happens while people sit right in the pews. A disengagement from the direction and purpose of a church, and it is at first very, very difficult to detect.

We may continue in that way for some time undetected, but eventually it will become apparent. And there are all kinds of reasons as to why some people would feel isolated from rather than involved with. It seems clear, as you read verse 14 and following, that there were some to whom Paul was writing who sensed discouragement in their lives, and they were expressing it. Two particular reasons, it seems to me, are made plain in the way that Paul tackles this. Reason number one is inferiority, or the feeling, They don't need me. Now, we hear this said all the time at Parkside Church. So this is obviously relevant. People say, It is clear that I am unneeded. If you feel that way, then something's wrong, either with you, or with the leadership, or with us both, but nothing's wrong with the Bible, and nothing is wrong with God's purpose. Nevertheless, people express themselves within the framework of church by saying, I don't think that anybody needs me.

It comes out in different ways. I don't think if I didn't show up, I don't think it would matter. If I wasn't involved, I don't think they'd care.

If I didn't make a fuss, no one would call me, and so on. Clearly, some in the Corinthian context were feeling that way. They felt they were unimportant, they felt they were unneeded, and they were clearly dissatisfied with the part that they had been given to play. They were unhappy with their gifts. Every so often when you have gifts given out, somebody gets something that's a real bad one, and it's a really embarrassing situation, you know. Because the person opens it up, and you know instantly they hate it.

And yet, you know that the context is such they're going to have to say something nice about it. And there were some who, if you like, when they opened up the gifts that God had given to them within the body of Christ, were clearly unhappy with what they'd been given. And when they began to look around as other people opened their gifts, they were envious of what had been given to somebody else. They were envious of the part that somebody else had been given, and so now they're in deep trouble. One, they don't like their part, they don't like their gift, but they do like his part, and they do like her gift.

So how are we going to get out of that one? Because you don't have that part, because you don't have that gift, but you do have your part related to your gift. And an inferiority complex is simply an expression of pride. It's very important to note, because it sounds very humble to say, you know, my gifts are really quite insignificant.

I really don't have much to offer. That sounds humble for about a second and a half. It's not humble.

It's self-focused. It calls in question God's wisdom and God's power. Where did these gifts come from? We didn't invent them. God gave them. So if I say my gifts are irrelevant or unimportant, or I have nothing to offer, as humble as it may sound to untrained ears, it is actually a dreadful expression of pride.

And what we're saying is, as is expressed in Romans chapter 9, like the clay we're saying to the potter, why did you make me like this? I don't like this. I wanted to be a singer, and I can't sing a note. I wanted to be a leader, and I'm frightened to speak. I wanted to be quiet, and I can't shut up.

I wanted to know what it feels like to sit in a corner and only be asked questions. And I can't stay in the corner. And so inferiority disguises pride. Back again in 1 Peter, Peter reminds his readers that it is only in a discovery of God's grace that they will be able to get to grips with who they are and what they are. Humble yourselves, therefore under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Immediately prior to that, he has said, God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. In other words, until we understand the magnificence of God's grace, until we accept who we are and what we are as per his purpose, and therefore at the same time accept who we're not and what we're not, we are tempted to then spend an immense amount of time in the futility of wanting to change God's divine purpose. And this is so common in the body of Christ.

It's frightening. I don't like the part I have. I don't like the gift I've been given, but I do like what somebody else got, and therefore I'm going to try and get what they have. Now, our children are better able to grasp this, and sometimes when we sing children's songs, it dawns on us a little better. We haven't sung it for a long time, but you remember the song, If I Wear a Butterfly, I Thank You God for Giving Me Wings. And if I wear a robin in the tree, I thank you God that I can sing.

And if I wear a fuzzy wuzzy bear, I thank you God for my fuzzy wuzzy hair, but I just thank you, Father, for making me me. Now, in all of the talk about self-perception and self-involvement and self-this and self-that, let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Christians of all people, both in terms of the physicality of themselves and the spirituality of who they are, ought to be able to come to terms with these issues. And until we do, we will never make a useful contribution to our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, because we will always be stuck halfway between where we are and where we think we'd really be better. Have you come to terms with yourself yet?

Have you grown up enough to accept what you're not going to be, to realize what you are—perfections and imperfections, gifts and abilities, the absence of certain things? And have you realized in looking around that the reason God has done that is so that other people may fill in the gaps for you and fill in the gaps for me? That he did this purposefully in this church so that no one, no group, would be able to be the body without the rest of the body?

Now, the statements in verses 15 and 16 are so obvious. The foot may very well be depressed at its inability to exercise the complicated function of the hands. All right? If the foot should say, Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body. That's a silly idea. Paul knows it's a silly idea, and yet people still are saying that within the body.

You know, I don't think that my part is really that important. I don't even belong to this body, because I'm not a hand. Yeah, but you're a foot. Well, look at your feet for a minute, if you can pull them out from underneath a thing. Look at them. Are they still attached to your ankles? Right.

So they're part of your body. Now, they're not up here. Now, do something.

Try and get your car keys out of your pocket with your feet. Some bright sparks on the back row are already trying it. All right?

By and large, nobody's going to pull that off. Some boy's on the front having a go at it, but it's very difficult. Okay? Okay, now your hands are very important in receiving a punt. Your feet are very important in punting.

Okay? In the same way, with the ear and with the eye. If the ear should say, Because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body.

It would not, for that reason, cease to be part of the body. The interesting thing is, as Leon Morris says, we're prone to envy those who surpass us a little rather than those who are patently in a different class. So if you play golf, you're prone to be envious and jealous of somebody who's just a wee bit better, but you're not going to be envious unless you've had a frontal lobotomy.

You're not going to be envious of Payne Stewart or Jack Nicklaus, because they are so patently in a different class. So the hands and the feet have a problem. The ear and the eyes have a problem. They've got a proximity. They've got a distinction amongst them.

They know their place. And when that goes on, men and women are tempted to believe that the diversity which Paul says, which the Bible says is vital, is not actually vital at all. Look at verse 17. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?

Now, we can debate whether Paul's trying to be funny there or not, and you can decide whether you think it's funny or not. But it's a wonderful picture. Just a complete eye for a body. If you imagine just all eyes sitting out here, just single eyes, just big globs, irises and stuff like that, and the white, some of you brown, some of you blue, some of you green, some of you multicolored, but just eyes. How would you smell? Because you ain't got no nose.

You're just an eye. It's so obvious. I mean, it's really almost sad that the Holy Spirit had to go to this level to try and get the church to waken up. Is it not? I mean, we're sensible people. We ought not to have to have this stuff, but we do because we're so prone to deny it in the way we spend our time. The question for all of us is, are we saying no to isolation and yes to involvement in our local church?

You're listening to Alistair Begg with a message titled Unity in Diversity, and this is Truth for Life weekend. We're learning about how God's word strengthens and unifies the body of Christ. That's why at Truth for Life, when we teach the scripture, we invite you to open your Bible. We believe God's word has the power to change lives so that unbelievers become followers of Jesus and believers are progressively becoming more Christ-like.

Our prayer is that the local church would be built up through the Spirit's transforming work in God's people. That's why we're committed to making clear, relevant Bible teaching as accessible as possible. In fact, you can listen to Alistair's teaching wherever you are at whatever time is convenient for you using the Truth for Life mobile app. The app provides direct access to the daily program. There's also a daily devotional and a link to the Bible in the ESV format. The mobile app is completely free to download and use. You can find it when you search Truth for Life in your app store or visit truthforlife.org slash app. And if you're a regular Truth for Life listener, you know all of Alistair's teaching including his complete library of more than 2,000 messages is available online free of charge. You can access it through the app or through our website.

You can also share messages with others by sending them a link through social media or via email. I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for listening. Be sure to join us next weekend as we wrap up our series from 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Find out why there's no such thing as an irrelevant role when God chooses you to be a part of his unfolding plan and purpose. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.